


KODZUKEN

by a_teayes



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Friendship, Gaming, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:35:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27598991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_teayes/pseuds/a_teayes
Summary: KODZUKEN streams every weekend- every Friday night, every Saturday night, and, occasionally Sunday nights, too. He’s got a dedicated, if somewhat small, fanbase consisting of hardcore regulars (they’ve even started asking him to make merch). Thousands of people log on to watch him play- everything from Animal Crossing to COD, and he dominates in all of them. He’s a bit shy (he definitely was, at the start), but it’s part of his charm.As always, don’t forget to log on at 10:00 tonight to watch! :)---Kenma likes to stream every weekend, and even on Sundays if he can get Kuroo off his back long enough to get some decent playing time. He likes his regulars a lot- not that he’d ever say that to them directly- and he’s pretty much adjusted to the reality that a lot of people watch him play- including some of his friends. To him, he’s just playing the games he’s played and loved his whole life, but...with people watching. It’s actually not so bad. He might even make merch for his channel soon (and send some to Shou and Tobio, of course. They'd love that).
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou & Kozume Kenma, Kozume Kenma & Kuroo Tetsurou
Comments: 3
Kudos: 22





	KODZUKEN

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again! I'm back with a gaming Kenma fic this time, and I really love this one. I was going for a cozy, late-night stream type of vibe, and I hope it comes across that way! I definitely enjoyed writing this- since I usually tend to write ship stuff (some of which will be up very soon), this was a very welcome change of pace, and it was super fun. Enjoy :)

“Don’t stay up too late, okay, kitten?” Kuroo tries his best to look menacing as he says this as if he won’t be staying up equally late, watching the entirety of the stream despite Kenma’s repeated requests for him  _ not _ to watch. He’d never admit it, but having Kuroo there (and usually Shouyou, too) is...comforting.  _ Ew _ . Kenma’s face reverts to its “ick” mode, as he scrunches his nose in disgust at the sappy thoughts clouding his mind. 

“Fine. Whatever. Don’t watch, okay?” He knows there’s no point in saying this, but he knows Kuroo still thinks he isn’t aware of the mysterious  _ @chem_god _ watching his streams, so Kenma lets him preserve his anonymity. 

“I know, I know.” Although Kenma’s eyes are defaulting to the floor, he can feel Kuroo’s eye-roll at the reminder. 

“Goodnight, kitten.” With that, Kuroo walks back to his own room with the practiced ease of a roommate and the soft, almost imperceptible footsteps of a cat.

Kenma tilts his head even farther down, using his hair curtain to hide his rosy cheeks, though he knows Kuroo’s not around to spot his blush. If he was, he’d either tease him relentlessly or give him that haughty, cocky smirk that basically has the same effect (it depends on his mood). For some odd reason, he can never seem to get used to that nickname. If anything, Kuroo’s the cat between the two of them.

Dragging his socked feet along the hardwood, Kenma slinked into his gaming room (a converted third bedroom/office) and proceeded to ready his PC and monitors, and other equipment for a long night of streaming. There was already an energy drink waiting for him on the desk, courtesy of Kuroo, though he’s adamant that they’ll wreck Kenma’s health. 

After dimming the lights and finishing with his set-up, Kenma plops down onto his humongous gaming chair, snagging a blanket or two on his way there. He double-checks the time on his phone, but only to ensure that he’ll have at least twenty minutes of naptime before his stream.

Thirty minutes later, he starts.

***

  
  


“I was thinking we’d have a pretty chill session today if that’s okay.” Kenma’s streams are always quite tame, for the most part. He’s not known for getting especially worked up (there are plenty of streamers who are), that’s for sure, but, in the midst of a few intense PUBG games and one particularly frustrating Animal Crossing session, Kenma might have...let out a few  _ choice _ words. And then proceeded to scream, albeit silently, into his hands. 

His regulars, however, are familiar with his persona and the  _ actual _ chill Kenma possesses, and their comments reaffirm that. 

**Kenken_27** : even more chill than usual? Impossible

**CODzukenn** : yess whatever u want bro!

Kenma would be lying if he said the regulars and his friends on his stream hadn’t helped him get over the initial obstacles of streaming. He’s reluctantly grateful. 

Now, no matter how hard he tries to suppress it, he can’t help but smile (albeit very, very subtly) whenever he spots one of his dedicated regulars gracing the chat with their presence. 

He’s never been one to need or crave attention or validation, but this had always felt a bit different to him. He might’ve been the center of attention, in a way, but he and everyone there- maybe minus Kuroo and Shou- were all there for the same thing: to have fun, and to just  _ play _ . Even if Kenma wasn’t always comfortable being in the spotlight or having an audience, he could always rely on his games to share that attention with him, and he was nothing if not comfortable with those. 

When did it all become so familiar? Some of it always was- the glow of the monitors, the click of keys, buttons, or a joystick, even the sound of other gamers was familiar (though their yelling and language was something Kenma would likely never get used to). However, it feels surreal to Kenma how he managed to make a routine, a career of something that involves an audience,  _ his  _ audience. And he even...likes it? It’s strange, most of the time, but he knows he hasn’t changed, not really, and that’s maybe the most important thing.

When he started streaming, he hadn’t told anyone, and, for his very first stream, just used the built-in webcam and mic in his laptop and played his comfort games- Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. There were maybe three people who’d joined, and two of them left after ten seconds- the third after about ten minutes, but Kenma went on anyways. He thought, afterward, that he might be too quiet to be a streamer, too introverted. He almost quit, and he would’ve, without looking back, but one night, he was in the midst of a heated session of Animal Crossing, and one of his few regulars (possibly his only regular, at the time), popped up in the chat with a message,  _ I hope you don’t mind, KODZ, I invited a few friends  _ _ (o^▽^o) _ . 

By the time he logged off, there had been almost  _ five hundred _ viewers, and it was all from word-of-mouth. His regular- who he later found out is a streamer, himself- had told a few other streamers about the new and mysterious KODZUKEN, and they’d all ended up referring their followers to him. It was surreal, if not a bit anxiety-provoking. Luckily, though, the viewers came and went pretty frequently, and there weren’t more than a hundred people watching at a time. Kenma was pleasantly surprised to find that the feeling of people watching him wasn’t so bad- not when they were just watching him do what he loves. 

It had taken him quite a while to love volleyball. This? Maybe not so long, if he was lucky. And so far, he was feeling pretty lucky.

Now, with thousands of people watching at a time and multiple social media accounts with similar followings, he was, well, comfortable in his role.

Kenma lifted his Switch from its stand and slid the game cartridge into its slot. 

“Alright. Let’s start, then.”

***

  
  


“Haaah…” Nose scrunching, Kenma brought his hoodie-covered hand up to his face to muffle a yawn. Hopefully, no one noticed- he hated when Kuro commented that he should get some sleep. 

**super_super_smash** : ig its that time already…

**littlegiant2.0** : time to sleep!!! don’t stay up too late!!

Well, if it wasn’t Kuro, trust Shouyou to take his place. 

Now that he thought about it, maybe it  _ was _ time for Kenma to sleep. Definitely not because Shouyou said so, though.

“Alright, everyone...I think maybe it’s time for me to go. I’ll be back tomorrow, remember to join me in celebrating my 1-year anniversary on here. Um...if I don’t say it enough, I guess, thanks for everything. I really appreciate that you all watch my streams. I-I’ll end it here, for tonight. Thanks again, everyone. Good night.”

Kenma lets out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and curls up in his chair, folding into himself in the oversized gaming throne. The light the monitors were emitting was faint, and the rainbow LEDs of his PC were slowly fading. 

Another successful stream. One of many, yet Kenma didn’t find himself tiring of the routine. In many ways, it was an indicator of how much he’d grown- Kuroo had told him so once when he’d been anxious about the future of his channel. Kenma discovered, after a while, that he’d really come to like streaming, the people he’d been able to chat with (and occasionally, meet), and the opportunities he’d been given since he started. 

It was...more than he could’ve imagined for himself, but, to be honest, he wouldn’t have had it any other way.

  
He types a quick post for his feed-  _ Thanks for joining, everyone. The 1 year anniversary of my channel is tomorrow, and, hopefully, the year has been as much fun for you all as it has been for me. Looking forward to many more. -KODZUKEN _

**Author's Note:**

> How'd you like it? I hope I was able to portray Kenma well- he's one of my all-time favorite characters and this was my first time writing him, surprisingly! Thanks for reading!


End file.
